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María Montez International Airport (MDBH/BRX) is a large but lightly used civil aerodrome on the coast north of Barahona in the southwestern Dominican Republic, built to a scale that belies its modest traffic. Its long asphalt runway and coastal position make it a striking waypoint for VFR pilots exploring the country's southwest, though it currently sees no scheduled airline services.
María Montez International Airport serves the port city of Barahona in the southwestern Dominican Republic and is named after the Hollywood actress Maria Montez, who was born in Barahona Province. It is operated by Aerodom (Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI) and, despite its international designation and a runway capable of handling wide-bodied jets, currently has no regular scheduled airline services, making it an interesting and quiet destination for a simulated cross-country flight.
The airport lies on the Caribbean coast about 3 kilometres north of Barahona, in Barahona Province in the southwestern Dominican Republic. Because the field sits right on the shoreline, approaches from and departures toward the east each involve a marked altitude change over open water, a feature worth anticipating when planning a visual arrival or departure.
The airport has a single physical runway, 12/30, of 9,799 feet with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS.
Barahona Approach can be reached on 119.5 MHz, Ground on 121.8 MHz, and Barahona Tower on 118.5 MHz. The Barahona VOR/DME (ident BHO) and the Barahona non-directional beacon (ident BHN) are both located on the field, providing basic radio navigation aids for arriving and departing traffic.
The airport's coastal position, close to the city of Barahona, is itself the principal visual reference for a pilot approaching from any direction, with the shoreline and the built-up area of the city providing clear orientation cues on the approach.
María Montez Airport was officially inaugurated on Saturday 27 April 1996 in a ceremony presided over by President Joaquín Balaguer, having been built at a cost of almost five hundred million pesos. In 2010, following the devastating Haiti earthquake, around 70 members of a US Army contingency response wing used the airport, alongside San Isidro Air Base, as a staging area for humanitarian aid deliveries to Port-au-Prince amid overwhelmed airspace there. In 2011 the runway and takeoff area were restored with an investment of 30 million Dominican pesos, work that also produced a 40,000 square metre aircraft parking platform and a 300 metre taxiway to accommodate larger aircraft. Aviation fuel supply began at the airport in July 2012 when Terpel started operations there. By 2016 Aerodom was managing the airport with around 22 employees, while the Dominican civil aviation authority (IDAC) ran airspace operations with roughly 40 staff, including air traffic controllers and communications and navigation personnel.
María Montez International Airport has the capacity to receive Boeing 747s and other wide-bodied aircraft, reflecting the scale of its runway and apron, and offers immigration, customs, and plant and animal health services along with drug control checks. Airport security is provided by the specialised Civil Aviation Security Corps (CESAC). As of 2024 there are no regular scheduled airline services operating from the field, so a simulated visit is likely to find it quiet, with occasional charter or general aviation movements rather than airline traffic.
